UAF Free Lecture 'Hold the Obit: Newspapers Aren't Dead'

Published: October 21, 2009

Veteran journalist David Offer will speak about the future ofnewspapers in a free public lecture, "Hold the Obit: Newspapers Aren'tDead," Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Morris Thompson Cultural andVisitors Center auditorium in Fairbanks.

Offer is serving as the 2009-2010 Charles W. Snedden Chair inJournalism at the University of Alaska Fairbanks journalismdepartment. Offer comes to UAF after spending more than 40 yearsworking as a newspaper reporter and editor throughout the U.S. He hasbeen active in journalism professional organizations throughout hiscareer. He was a founding member of the Investigative Reporters andEditors and a speaker at its first national convention. As a youngreporter, he joined the Society of Professional Journalists' ethicscommittee and was one of the authors of the society's 1972 revision ofits code of ethics. He has planned and led professional workshops onethics, investigative reporting, editorial writing, newsroommanagement and military reporting. Through his work with SPJ, he hasserved as adviser to several campus newspaper editors. Since hisretirement in 2006, Offer has continued to write a column for twonewspapers in Maine.

Helen Snedden established the Snedden Chair in 2003 in memory of herlate husband, the former publisher and owner of the Fairbanks DailyNews-Miner. Since its establishment, the chair has allowed the UAFjournalism department to bring a series of nationally knownjournalists to Fairbanks to speak to students, local journalists andthe public.